“What flavour of tea do you recommend today?” Richard asked as she returned from putting the record away.

Claire stepped behind her counter and stared at the dozens of teas stored in decorative tins on shelves.

“I still can’t believe you want to try each one. Don’t you have a favourite by now?” Everyone Claire knew had a favourite tea.

Her best friend, Jan, for example, always drank Ceylon scented with rose. She was a romantic through and through. An elderly customer, Mr. Shoemaker, purchased tea only for gifts, as though he didn’t deserve a flavourful tea for himself. He was always surrounded by a cloud of sadness. Claire believed that finding the perfect flavour for him would bring him a little happiness.

David, her deceased husband, had insisted that loose-leaf tea was for snobs.

“I promised to try each one before I settled on a favourite.” Richard walked over to the counter. “Hmmm...well, I believe every feeling has a tea, so, since you don’t have a favourite tea, how are you feeling right now?”

Richard leaned on the counter and smiled. It was a gentle smile, not a “you’re mine” smile, like David’s had been.

“I’d say...I’m pretty happy right now. How about one of your mixes today.”

Richard’s eyes reminded Claire of the coppery colour of Lapsang Souchong, a smoked black tea from China.

She pulled a tin off the shelf. “I have a special blend of Earl Grey. Actually, a variation, since Earl Grey is already a blend. I call it Earl Claire.”

She lifted the lid off the tin and offered it to him.

As Richard’s hands reached for it, though, Claire panicked, set the tin on the counter, and pulled her hands back.

I’m doing it again, she thought. Why can’t I stop it? She was attracted to Richard, and she knew heliked her, too, but she didn’t want another relationship. So why couldn’t she stop sending him signals?

She stepped back from the counter and locked herhands behind her back. Richard let out a little cough and stood up straight.

Claire brushed a hair out of her face. “It’s my own blend, sorry, variation, of Earl Grey, like I said. It’s a blend of premium Ceylon, Darjeeling, and Assam. Bergamot oil. Obviously.” She let out a nervous laugh.

“That’s what makes it an Earl Grey. I add vanilla and a touch of lavender. It has a very balanced flavour, not too pungent, not too light. The added flavours lift everything so beautifully—it’s almost like your taste buds jump in your mouth but the balance of the black tea base flows through your body.”

Talking about tea helped Claire relax again, but she knew she needed to stop misleading him.

Something you’re failing at miserably, she thought.